Masters Bring Business Benefits - Proved By Finnish Managers

In this empirical research paper, I seek to answer the question: How does working life benefit from UAS master’s theses? My goal is to demonstrate how master’s students of the Degree Programme in International Business Management (IBMA) at Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences (UAS) in Finland bring business benefits to organizations with their master’s theses as work development projects. For this purpose, I collected and analyzed qualitative data from 91 organizations during the period of 2007-2016. This qualitative, thematic analysis shows that organizations benefit from UAS master’s theses. The benefits proved by Finnish managers are very tangible ones, such as internationalization strategies, digital marketing plans, market research and analysis, training programs, communication plans, and so on. The empirical contribution of this paper is significant to employers of UAS master’s graduates, UAS business educators, and educational policy makers. The findings increase the awareness and competitiveness of UAS master’s graduates in the job market. Furthermore, they show how and why business and academic collaboration is critical. Keywords: Master’s thesis, business benefits, business and academic collaboration, university of applied science